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Saturday, 5 February 2011

Newcastle 4 - Arsenal 4: Braindead Arsenal Piss it Away (UPDATED with Player Ratings)

Newcastle 4 – Arsenal 4: Braindead Arsenal Piss it Away (UPDATED with Player Ratings) - The Offside - Arsenal blog

« Newcastle – Arsenal Match Thread | Home | Newcastle 4 – Arsenal 4: Braindead Arsenal Piss it Away (UPDATED with Player Ratings)By: Martin | February 5th, 2011
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This match was being an Arsenal fan in a nutshell, no? The first half was everything great about being an Arsenal fan — some brilliant play, some outstanding goals, a comfortable lead, outstanding celebrations. Then, the second half was everything bad about being an Arsenal fan — bad defending, mental fragility, inability to hold a lead, and outright stupidity.

The first-half started off all Arsenal, literally from the first minute. A ball was played into Arshavin in the middle of the pitch, and Arshavin pulled off a little magic by doing very well to get to the ball before the sliding Newcastle defender, and played a brilliant one-touch through ball into the path of an onrunning Theo Walcott, who turned on the afterburners to get by his man, took a touch, had his head up, and coolly slid the ball past Harper inside the far post. 1-0 Arsenal, and it was a dream start.

And Arsenal didn’t let up. We won a free kick outside the box on the left side of the pitch in the 3rd minute, and Arshavin lined up to take it. And it was a beauty, inch perfect onto the head of an onrunning Johan Djourou, who did well to rise up and get to it and put a great header off the underside of the bar for his first-ever Arsenal goal. Richly deserved given how well he’s played for us this season. It’s easy to remember that this is a guy who was out for an entire year due to a knee injury. And unlike a lot of players who have injury lay-offs, Djourou kept coming to games, kept sitting on the bench, kept hanging out with the team. I know I’m not alone in doubting that he could ever really return to the form he showed at the end of the 2008-2009 season, but he’s gotten back to that level and then some. Couldn’t be happier for the young man, and with his form he’s established himself as an important part of Arsenal’s first-team, both for now and hopefully for years to come as well. 2-0, Arsenal. Also worth noting that Arshavin got 2 excellent assists in the first 3 minutes.

And, unbelievably, we didn’t stop there. In the 10th minute, the ball was played out wide right to Theo, who got by his man and then coolly played a perfect cross along the ground to the middle of the box, where van Persie was waiting just near side of the penalty spot, and van Persie rarely misses from there. He buried it with his chocolate leg, and it was 3-0 Arsenal. 3 goals off our first 3 shots on goal, and the game was seemingly over within 10 minutes.

And then the inevitable let up happened, as we waited an entire 16 minutes to resume scoring. And that came when Bacary Sagna got the ball out wide to the right and delivered a real beauty of a cross (it consistently amazes me how people still criticize him for being a poor crossed of the ball — I don’t see how anyone with a pair of eyes who’s watched him play this year could say that, and this was a great example) onto the head of an unmarked van Persie, who headed the ball past a helpless Harper to make it 4-0 Arsenal.

And after that, things calmed down a little bit. Newcastle did have a few decent moves where they caught us napping a bit at the back, but they still couldn’t manage a shot on goal. Koscielny in particular made several strong clearances at the back to deny Newcastle a scoring opportunity. We had a decent chance when the ball fell to Robin on the left side of the box (after a superb long pass by Cesc, who had several in the first half), but Harper did well to get out and deflect it out.

First-Half Stats
Possession: Newcastle 40% – Arsenal 60%
Shots (on target): Newcastle 6(0) – Arsenal 12(7)
Corner Kicks: Newcastle 6 – Arsenal 6

I try not to get overconfident, but honestly there was no real doubt as to the result of the match going into the second-half. From an Arsenal point of view, the issue was just (a) pad the goal differential; (b) rest some of our key players; and (c) avoid injuries. But it was going to be a cakewalk, for sure.

Of course, it went pear-shaped pretty much immediately. Right after the re-start, Johan Djourou began limping, and it looked like he was favoring his right leg. He seemed to be in quite a bit of pain, and Squillaci came on as a substitute. I probably don’t need to spell out why this is so concerning — Djourou has been excellent for us this season, and has struck up a very effective partnership with Koscielny, and I think for the first time all season Arsenal fans had begun to feel good about our back-line and keeper. Squillaci, on the other hand, may just not be of Arsenal quality. I think he’s a solid professional, who works hard and has lots of experience, but just may not have the pace, skill, and quality to play for Arsenal. If he’s our first-choice center back against Barcelona, well, I have to say, I’m not sure how well that’s going to work out. Sairax or I will, of course, update you with any injury news on Djourou.

Just a few minutes after that, we took another blow. Joey Barton got to a 50/50 ball just first before Abou Diaby, and in doing so, went hard into Diaby’s shin. Referee Phil Dowd did not whistle for a foul, so Diaby decided it was a good opportunity for some frontier justice, and shoved Barton hard to the ground, and then when Kevin Nolan came over to mediate, gave Nolan a hefty shove, too. Dowd had absolutely no choice but to show Diaby red.

Now. I know all about Barton’s reputation, and some of the b.s. he’s pulled in the past. But the fact is that he got to the ball first, and got the ball. The follow through may have been reckless, may have been worth a foul or even a yellow card, but as tempting as it may be, I’m not going to say this was a case of Joey Barton being a thug or whatever. I think it was a case of a slightly reckless challenge, and one which Barton even looked to be putting his hand up in apology, when Diaby shoved him. Barton did not respond at all, and kept a cool head and composure throughout the events.

I understand Diaby, having been seriously injured by a rough tackle in the past, has every right to be upset about that. But he’s got to show the maturity to realize that he’s going to get tackles, and some of them are going to be questionable. If he’s going to go completely nuts and hit the offending player in the face, he’s going to get a red card every single time, and is a huge liability. Especially in a situation where we have no depth at his position at the moment. Really disappointing for him to lose his temper like that, knowing that doing so is going to force the team to play with 10-men for almost an entire half of football.

And give Newcastle credit for taking full advantage of Diaby’s stupidity. They were on the front foot from that point forward. And they finally broke through through another bit of Arsenal thoughtlessness when Koscielny conceded a needless penalty in the 68th minute. Best had the ball with his back the goal, and Koscielny was in good position. Then, for some reason, instead of just waiting for Best to turn or get rid of the ball, Koscielny put his foot through Best’s legs to poke the ball away. And I do think he got the ball and Best went down awfully easily, and it was a soft penalty. But the bottom line is, as a defender, you can’t stick your leg through the legs of an opponent in the box, it’s just asking for trouble. Dowd pointed to the spot, and Barton converted the penalty well. 4-1, Arsenal.

There was an incident after the penalty, too. Barton and Nolan both ran to try to grab the ball to re-start the match, but Szczesny grabbed it and refused to give it to them. Barton pushed him a bit, and Nolan clubbed him in the head to try to get it back. Szczesny was booked for time wasting, but obviously wasn’t too bothered, and Nolan was booked for hitting Wojo in the face — that could have been a red for me.

It wasn’t long after that that Newcastle looked to make it 4-2 when Leon Best turned and tucked under Wojo. However, the linesman flagged it for offside. Replay showed that it was dead wrong, because Rosicky was inexplicably just walking behind the backline, which played Best onside. We now lose the right to complain about the wrongfully awarded Louis Saha goal.

But Newcastle would make it 4-2 soon enough. A ball into the box was completely whiffed on by Clichy, and it fell right to Leon Best, who this time was onside, and he buried the ball past Szczesny. 4-2, Newcastle, and the nerves were apparent. Newcastle were rampant, we were down to 10-men, and the crowd (who were brilliant all day long) were lifting their team to great heights.

Then, in the 83rd minute, we conceded yet another penalty. It looked pretty soft to me. The Newcastle player went up for a header between Koscielny and Rosicky. He went down with minimal contact, and it’s the kind of thing you see a dozen times a game with no whistle blown. I think the penalty was called on Rosicky, because he had his hands out in a way that looked like he was pushing. Barton stepped up again and coolly slotted it home, to make 4-3 Arsenal, and it just felt for all the world like catastophe was imminent.

And it was. A set piece was played in, it was knocked clear, but it fell perfectly to Chick Tiote, who unleashed a brilliant long-range strike. Wojo was slow to react, couldn’t stop it, and it was all tied up. 4-4. We couldn’t get much of anything going other than a ton of yellow cards for the rest of the match, and it was 2 valuable points dropped. Thanks, Arsenal, for ruining my weekend.

Full-Time Stats
Possession: Newcastle 48% – Arsenal 52%
Shots (on target): Newcastle 24(9) – Arsenal 13(7)
Corner Kicks: Newcastle 12 – Arsenal 6

They dominated us in the second-half every bit as much, if not more, than we dominated them in the first-half. We had 1 shot, none on target, no corner kicks, and the minority of the possession, whereas Newcastle had 17 shots, 9 on target, and 6 corners. This result may be many things, but it is not entirely undeserved.

It’s easy to blame Diaby for this. And by all means, let’s point a finger in his direction. Had it not been for his stupid reaction, we win this game, no question in my mind. He lost his head, cost his team, and may well have cost his team the title. But there’s plenty of blame to go around. Koscielny for conceding a stupid penalty. Rosicky for doing the same. Clichy for allowing Best to get the ball unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box. Wenger for not bringing on Chamakh or someone to help with set piece defending. Wenger for taking off Walcott for Eboue — Walcott was our best counterattacking threat, and Eboue didn’t help matters at all. Cesc for doing sweet bugger all the entire second half.

The bottom line is that you don’t blow a 4-goal lead. We just became the first team in Premier League history to have a 4-goal lead and fail to win. An ignominous distinction. There is plenty of blame to go around. For as great as we were the first-half, we were equally atrocious in the second-half. And this is a huge problem. We’ve seen this happen too many times. Great teams don’t do this. But we have consistently blown multiple-goal leads over the last few seasons. I’m not sure if it’s down to mental weakness, bad tactics, some combination, or some other factor, but I can’t see us ever winning the league as long as we pull this crap. I’m physically nauseous typing this right now.

And I know there may be some complaints about the referee, on the two penalties, etc. But the linesman also took away a perfectly good goal, so we can’t complain too much. And even if they were helped by the referee — YOU DON’T BLOW 4-GOAL LEADS. Period. End of story. I don’t care who you’re playing against, how many men you have, what the referees are doing. You get your shit together, you focus on clearing the ball out of your own box, and focus on maintaining possession. And that’s what we didn’t do today. I’m not interested in playing the “poor us” victim card, and I’m not interested in pointing the finger at anyone but our own team on this one.

So we pull within 4 points of Manchester United, but they can pull that lead to 7 if they beat bottom of the table Wolves in the late match today. That’s going to be a tough deficit to make up. Manchester City and Spurs both won today, so City pulls within a point and Spurs within 6. But given what I just saw, I’m less interested in our position in regard to any other team, and more worried about our ability to play a decent half of football and not piss away a seemingly insurmountable lead.

So . . . that’s it, then. I don’t really know what else to say. We really stepped in it today, right? I’ve previously said that my worse experience as an Arsenal fan was the end of the Wigan match last year. This might be even worse. I can’t imagine this is a match any Arsenal fan (or, actually, anyone) who watched it will ever forget it. We often hear the bullshit about how the team is going to “learn a lesson” from some match or another, usually when we do something like this. This is probably pretty definitive proof that we haven’t learned a damn thing. And maybe we never will. I don’t know.

On to the player ratings:

Szczesny 6 I thought he was pretty decent — wasn’t really too much at fault for any of the goals, although the 4th goal was from pretty far out and Szczesny probably could have reacted more quickly. Still, conceded 4 goals. For the most part, was hung out to dry by his teammates, and made several good saves in the second-half.

Sagna 6.5 Did pretty well, and his assist on the 4th goal was superb. Wasn’t really at fault for the second-half meltdown.

Clichy 5 Woof. Horrific afternoon for Clichy — was at fault for the second-goal with atrocious defending, and was generally exposed on the right all match long.

Djourou 8 Commanding and composed at the back, and earned his first goal well. If he hadn’t gone off injured, I feel pretty sure we would be sitting here talking about 3 points earned today.

Koscielny 5.5 Stupidly conceded the penalty on the first goal, which opened the floodgates for Newcastle, and generally was overrun in the second-half.

Diaby 3.5 He was pretty good in the first-half, but by losing his head, he cost us the game and may very well have cost us a shot at the league.

Wilshere 7.5 Working hard and fighting throughout, one of the few guys that seemed to be really pushing back against the catastrophe in the second-half. If everyone on the pitch had Jack’s attitude, no way we don’t win that game.

Cesc 6 Had a couple of decent long-passes in the first-half, and played decent in midfield early on, but was very anonymous and poor. At a time when we really needed someone to step up, provide some leadership, and help us maintain possession and stop being overrun, he was nowhere to be found.

Theo 8 Brilliant run and finish for the first-goal, great pass for the first van Persie goal. Worked hard and was dangerous. As I mentioned earlier, I really wish we had left him on, because his pace would have either opened up some possibilities for a counterattack, or kept Newcastle from piling forward as much as they were.

Arshavin 7.5 Anonymous for most of the match until he was substituted for Rosicky. But for the 3 minutes he wasn’t anonymous, he was absolutely brilliant, tallying two superb assists in the first 3 minutes of the match to put Arsenal up 2-0. I think he’s firmly in the starting XI until Nasri’s return.

van Persie 8.5 Man of the Match. Got a brace, very nearly got a hat trick, and did what he could. He was pretty anonymous in the second-half, but most of that was due to a complete lack of service, since Arsenal barely got the ball across the midway line after Diaby got sent off.

Squillaci 4 Everyone is going to focus on Diaby getting sent off, but honestly, Djourou leaving injured may have had an even bigger impact, because Squillaci was completely ineffective and got overrun. An extended run of Squillaci starts could be bad news.

Rosicky 4 Didn’t help us get or maintain possession, didn’t help going forward, and conceded a crucial penalty (although, again, in fairness, it was a very, very soft penalty). Other than that, though, he was great.

Eboue 6 He worked hard, but couldn’t stem the tide of Newcastle’s comeback.

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Category: Arsenal News, Fixtures, Match Review, Newcastle, Premiership

Tags: Arsenal News, Fixtures, Match Review, Newcastle, Premiership
Tweet « Newcastle – Arsenal Match Thread | Home | victorI think no, i Know your comments are idiotic to say the least how can you write that we conceded two penealties, they were a bloody gift to newcastle from phil dowd. If you are an arsenal supporter your objectivity smack of trying to please. write the cold facts they were not pens but they were given as for diaby after been hacked from behind you now have the gall to write such crap. Mr Dowd should have applied a bit of common sense ok he pushed barton and nolan but you taken into account the injuries he suffered where there wer no retribution from the refs. pls put your pen down and go make dinner your writing stinksgo wolvesLook at the players on the pitch at the end of this game... we were asking to get physically dominated. You bring on eboue and rosicky, Martin mentioned it why not chamakh or even bendtner for gods sake. you cannot expect squillaci, cesc, wilshere, and koscielny to provide any strength in the middle of the park. This is why diabys red was so impactful we couldnt replace his presence and already lost our best most physical defender.ZenThis made me sick to my stomach. I was about to eat lunch and I couldn't do it. If Man U doesn't lose today I probably won't be able to watch another Arsenal game the rest of the season.GabrielBarcelona will give Arsenal a thrashing, does anyone here believe that Arsenal can win.... please just wake up and then get use to the fact of Cesc joining Barcelona in the next couple of yearsIllinois GoonerToday started off badly for me. Then, I saw the halftime score and was instantly in a good mood knowing that when I got home I could sit and watch the replay of one of Arsenal's great days. Then I looked up the match report on my way home. GOD DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!russianfandont agree on Kos. he was good in the first half, and cleared the ball a few time in a dangerous situation.
other then that, i hate dowd. and i hate barton. people like barton shouldnt have a place in football.SKJOey barton is a rugby player, FUCK SHIT joey. i bet i his mind was to end diaby's leg or something, when diaby has be out like of a long lime. if i was diaby, i would have broke joey's leg like what happen to poor ramsey. One question: is joey even playing football? few months a ago he punch gamest pedersons chest, now trying to break diaby's leg.

to the english FA, SMD IF ANOTHER PLAYER GETS A BROKEN LEG BY A TACKLE LIKE THIS.Rickey_bankscome on wolves! help us out please! dont throw away your lead like we did.Junichi Ezechiel BennettSorry but just look at the replay, Diaby almost lost his leg. And that's the issue with you English people, the tackle IS a skill, it's not just about being first on the ball. Barton was first maybe, but just explain me how the hell his left-leg was on Diaby shin? Diaby reaction for me IS totally normal as he was just afraid to lose his leg. I'm sorry but Barton didn't go for the ball at all, or maybe for both which is for me the same.Illinois GoonerI haven't seen the tackle yet, but you cannot react that badly no matter what the tackle. If you get in someones face and shove people to the ground it's a red card. You can't lose your sh*t so easily.Junichi Ezechiel BennettI'm not saying he was right, just I understand his reaction. And maybe you and I would have done the same. Yes, it's easy in our position to say it was a bad bad reaction to an awful, uggly tackle, but my only point is Diaby reaction is "normal". He was injured by Essien this season, and later by a Bolton player on two ugly tackles. Both player got out of the story as white as snow... I understand his reaction, he is not a robot, just a human being.

Quite funny, when Nolan and Barton both assaulted Scezny for the ball, the keeper was booked... Hilarious. Just a point on the rule. The rule says the ball belongs to the team which have CONCEDEED the goal. But when Barton and Nolan both assault Wojo, he's booked. Funny.SKI can understand diaby in that situation. off the field and in the pitch, he kind like anything. FUCK U JOEY.SKI HATE FATIUGE, why so many games in january and feb, like 10 a month. damn english fa, must have winter break , all the players are tired.Webb_FanDiaby no wonder you are a son of bitch!!!
Fucking disgrace.SKWTF, u didnt watch the reply loser, its joey Stupid Barton'S FAULTJonathanwe need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!we need song!OrionHighAsFuckthat's what i was saying constantly for the last ten minutes of the game.PeevishThanks Martin, for not overplaying the ref's role in our ChokyMcChoke fun today. As I said in the match thread, yes Dowd was shocking, but he's always shocking so I just cant bring myself to blame him for us pissing a four goal lead up against a Chokefruit tree.RedCapedWonderDiaby cost us the game. After a superb opening 45 minutes where he dictated the play in the middle of the park. A real shame after a fine display in the first half.blog comments powered by Disqus